# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1844 11 02_S17
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

The Lutheran.

"God's Word and Luther's teaching shall not pass away, now nor ever."

Published by C. F. W. Walther.

Volume 1.

St. Louis, Mo., November 2, 1844.

No. 5.

Terms: The Lutheran appears once every two weeks, at a subscription price of one dollar twenty-five cents for out-of-town subscribers, who must prepay half of this and bear the postage. — In St. Louis each single issue is sold for 6¼ cents.

The Unbelievers' War and Victory.

When the royal eagle soars upon the blue sea of ether,
Quickly a swarm of little foes gathers about him,
Who would only too gladly dare the glorious contest,
And pluck a little feather from off his head.

Little wrens and crows, and dearest little swallows fine,
Fall upon the poor eagle in a storm of weapons,
And if he settles down in silence, heedless of their screeching,
Then they trumpet: Victory! that he has been beaten!

The wisdom of Christ hovers quietly above the earth,
And it too has its little foes, who march sternly into the field;
Little wisdoms, small and middling, with long little beaks,
Fall upon poor Wisdom in great wrath.

In little newspapers, with fables new and old,
Many a crow's spear is raised against her wings;
She keeps silence in proud calm, she soars on joyfully, —
But you, brave little birds, shall have the last word!
— — — Will you, though?*)

H. L. C.

*) "But he was speechless." Matthew 22:12.

Contributions
to the Defense of the Christian Religion against
the most common objections of the scoffers
and blasphemers of our day.

It is an observation certainly made by every Christian versed in the history of the Christian Church, that the enemies of Christianity in our day bring forward against it nothing that has not already been advanced a thousand times before — often in far more skillful and more seductive fashion — and yet has also, just as often, been thoroughly refuted by faithful servants of Christ. It would therefore seem, in fact, a superfluous undertaking to enter the lists against such already vanquished foes. It might well seem sufficient to many simply to have the old defenses of Christianity against every attack ever made upon it printed anew, to the shame of present-day unbelief. That, however, is not the case. Even though the present-day opponents of divine revelation merely pick up again the old, already broken arrows of their unbelieving forefathers, to arm themselves for their new campaigns against Christ, the King of Truth, they have nevertheless given the old missiles such a new trim that to many they appear altogether new, indeed dreadful; they have invented new swordsman's tricks, before which not a few inexperienced fighters fall into confusion and dismay. And though, as has been said, they do nothing but chew over the old fare again to the disgust of the discerning, they still often manage, by a new seasoning, to make the countless-times reheated dish palatable once more to the palate of a certain class of people.

Since unbelief, particularly in this our new fatherland, now raises its head as freely and as high as never before, we consider it our duty, as editor of a Christian paper, to show the emptiness of everything by which people here seek to tear the faith in God and his holy Word out of the heart of the people, and to give this subject no small place in our paper. For when we fight for God's Word, we are fighting precisely for what we call Lutheran doctrine.

We have, indeed, been warned from various quarters against publicly speaking out on subjects which are here mostly handled in such a way that discussing them is not meant to bring the truth to light, but only to serve the mob-like defamation of persons, and of whole corporations that have here been kindly received by the state. But when we consider that the willfulness and wickedness of unbelievers must always rise higher the more those who still hold fast to the old, eternal truth keep silent, and that they must then come to think that we Christians are content, so long as we may live quietly on their sufferance; when we further consider how many a person is led astray by seeing that no one dares to contradict those who mock and blaspheme the Almighty in heaven and his saving Gospel; and when we finally consider what disgrace it must bring upon the high, holy name of God if those who boast of having come to know the true, living God should show even the mere appearance of fear before a man — that is, before sinful dust — when we consider all this, then we cannot refrain from raising our weak voice against the enemies of our Lord, even if we could hope to reap nothing from it but a covering of disgrace and shame. But we think that perhaps the merciful Savior might yet count us worthy to become, through this, an instrument for some, toward the removal of offenses taken, the resolving of their doubts, and the strengthening of their faith. And oh, how glad we would be if through this we should lead back even a single soul from the error of its way, or confirm it in the truth it has recognized!

In now beginning, in the present issue of our paper, to examine the objections which people at present raise against the divine authority of Holy Scripture and its content, and seek to spread among the people, we must at once make a preliminary declaration. Most of the enemies of the Bible in our day do not conduct their wars as civilized peoples do, who hold the law of nations sacred even in war, and who observe certain rules and laws in it and deliver honest battles; rather, they proceed as our Indians and all barbarians do, who nowhere hold their ground and only here and there make a raid, who prefer to slaughter the defenseless and, as occasion allows, to plunder, burn, and pillage. Accordingly, whoever wishes to stand up to them must naturally conduct himself likewise. We, too, therefore find ourselves compelled, in the defense we have undertaken, to proceed aphoristically — to subject the counter-arguments to examination just as they come, and to expose the deceit and fraud which people permit themselves as a means toward what they call a holy end. In doing so, we shall refrain from all unseemly jesting and vulgarity, and thus not repay like with like; for even if we did not already refrain from this for God's own sake, we know that whoever must resort to such weapons thereby betrays only his own insight into

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